House Armed Services Committee
Subcommittee Chairman Taylor's opening statement--February 13, 2007
"I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I also want to thank him for agreeing to hold this very important hearing in a joint manner. Additionally, I would like to thank our witnesses for providing us an informative reset briefing last week, and I appreciate them taking the time to appear before us today.
"I agree completely with everything the distinguished gentlemen from Texas mentioned. I would also note that the majority of Marine Corps and Navy reset and costs-of-war funding have been included in supplemental appropriations request, and not in the base budget request.
"I think the point needs to be made that war-related supplemental appropriations will cease, and the services will be required to fund equipment reset in their base budgets. The services have told the subcommittees that their base budgets are already constrained and will have to increase proportionally to absorb the reset costs. I hope that General Gardner and Admiral Greenert can let the subcommittees know what the Department is doing to prepare for that eventuality.
"Specifically, I would like General Gardner to discuss the Marine Corps unfunded requirement for the procurement of 3,700 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or "MRAPs", and provide us a brief update on the status of the initial low-rate production contracts for the MRAP program.
"I understand that the Administration's budget funds a little over a billion dollars for 1,022 MRAP vehicles. However, last week the Marine Corps Oversight Council endorsed an additional 2,678 MRAPs. I am interested to know how the Department intends to acquire these remaining vehicles, which have been deemed essential to the Corps' warfighting ability.
"Gentlemen, thank you for your distinguished service, and I look forward to your testimony. I hope that you will be able to provide the subcommittees with insight into the concerns and issues that Chairman Ortiz and I have raised in our opening remarks.
"Mr Chairman, I yield back."
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